For the first time since Wisconsin suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of BYU in the NCAA Tournament, John Tonje played in a televised basketball game. He, along with 39 others, participated in Wednesday's 5-on-5 scrimmages at the NBA Draft Combine. Tonje appeared in the first of two games on the day, posting three points, four rebounds, an assist, two fouls and two turnovers in 20 minutes while his team lost 104-80. He'll be back on the floor Thursday for the final scrimmage session of the NBA Draft Combine.
ESPN frequently interrupted its coverage of the actual scrimmage for commercials and prospect interviews, so I wasn't able to catch all 40 minutes. Still, here are three things I liked and didn't like from Wednesday's scrimmage:
What I Liked:
Passing
Tonje was a pure scorer at the collegiate level, and often would put his head down and plow through defenders on his way to the rim. That worked with great success in college, but it likely won't translate to the next level, making his ability to pass and create for others off-the-dribble critical to his draft stock. Tonje had a pair of nice passes including a beautiful dump-down bounce pass to Mackenzie Mgbako after driving into the paint and drawing in the defense's attention. The other came in transition, where he grabbed a rebound, pushed it up the floor and found the open man for an easy layup.
Off-ball activity level
Tonje won't be a plus-athlete or have great size for his position in the NBA, so he'll need to rely on hustle and IQ to be productive. It may not have translated into the box score, but Tonje had a few nice cuts that his teammates didn't or couldn't hit him on and never got too complacent. Though he was frequently in position for kickouts, they rarely came his way. On the defensive end, Tonje was quick to get back in transition and always found a body to box out when the shot went up. Again, he isn't a great lateral mover, so he'll need to be active and in the right spot more often than not defensively.
Defensive recovery
This sort of falls in line with the hustle I outlined in the last section. However, I liked what I saw from him on a few possessions after he got beat off the dribble. Instead of letting the player go by and rely on a help defender, Tonje was able to turn and gain ground to ultimately contest the shot. Now, it'd be best if he just didn't let his man by, but he still found a way to impact the shot and make guys miss.
What I Didn't Like:
Point of attack defense
Tonje is likely to play the shooting guard spot at the next level, which means he's going to have to guard much shiftier and quicker players than he did last season at Wisconsin. On Wednesday, he primarily matched up against Hunter Sallis of Wake Forest, Otega Oweh of Arkansas and Miles Byrd. He did a solid job against Sallis, but Oweh and Byrd each shook free once in a one-on-one scenario. Both possessions resulted in a missed basket, but it would have been nice to see Tonje be able to stop or turn them instead of allowing them to get downhill. It's also worth noting Tonje only allowed one basket (again, note that ESPN had several cutaways and commercial breaks during the action) -- which was a three-pointer by Byrd that happened after Tonje overhelped on a potential drive.
Ball-handling
He won't be asked to be a primary ball-handler at the next level, but Tonje looked a little uncomfortable when asked to bring the ball up the floor. He was whistled for a charge during the first half, going up the right sideline instead of swapping to his off hand. I didn't see Tonje's other turnover, but I thought he could have been more proactive and confident with the basketball.
Shot selection (and making)
Tonje went 1-for-5 on three-point attempts. The first was a contested catch-and-shoot from the corner and the third was his patented step-back three, which got blocked by Byrd. The other two were either contested off-the-dribble or unnecessarily deep. I get that he may have been frustrated by the times a teammate may have missed him while open, and maybe he felt the need to get more shots up in hopes of helping his stock or gathering attention. But after beating a defender off the dribble and delivering a beautiful bounce pass in the first quarter, I was really disappointed to see him stray away from attacking the rim.
Of course, the only made bucket he had occurred while ESPN was away from the action.